The Importance of Literature free essay sample

Even though the books would be burned physically, the words and stories the books contained would live on inside her! The fact that this woman died with her book shows Montag that books must have something special that the government doesnt want them to know about. It also shows how important books are, even though today we seem to take them for granted. 2. Quote: â€Å" ‘Its not just the woman that died,’ said Montag. ‘Last night I thought about all that kerosene Ive used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And Id never even thought that thought before. ’ † (Bradbury 49) Explanation: Montag for the first time saw that he was not only destroying a Mangano 2 nonliving thing, but also destroying the person who wrote that book. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Literature or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He was destroying something that took maybe years and lots of thought and effort to make. He was destroying the author’s existence. Montag realized that maybe these books could help him solve his problems and figure out what to do with his life. This also shows how books arent just pages, but a man and his time, efforts, and thoughts written down for a purpose. Literature is important and has a purpose and Montag realizes here. 3. Quote: â€Å" ‘We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. ’ † (Bradbury 55-6) Explanation: While it would be easier if everyone were the same, it wouldnt make everyone truly happy! It might trick them into thinking that theyre happy, like whats happened with the people in the book, but it wouldnt be sincere happiness. Also, theres only so much fun you can take before its not fun anymore. Too much fake happiness and forced fun can turn anyone suicidal and can make people kill, just like the kids did in the book. Books help people think about something for themselves and have their own opinion and thats why theyre illegal in this book because the government wants a bunch of drones, they dont want anyone to have their own opinion. . Quote: â€Å" ‘Colored people dont like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people dont feel good about Uncle Toms Cabin. Burn it. Someones written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. ’ † (Bradbury 57) Mangano 3 Explanation: Books may raise anger, sadness and tears, or even happiness. The people in this book havent felt real or e ven any emotions about anything in their lives. The emotions they feel in their TV parlors are fake and have no root. They dont just talk anymore even if theyre husband and wife! Their lack of talking means lack of arguing or laughing and the law against reading books means they havent read a book and had emotions either. Also, books always have a purpose; whether its to explain how or why something works, share information about someone’s life, or entertain. White people may not like Uncle Toms Cabin, but it was written for a purpose! The cigarette people may be weeping over a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs, but theyre upset by it for a reason! It makes them have their own opinion as well. 5. Quote: â€Å"Then he reached up and pulled back the grill of the air-conditioning system and reached far back to the right and moved still another sliding sheet of metal and took out a book. Without looking at it he dropped it to the floor. He put his hand back up and took out two books and moved his hand down and dropped the two books to the floor. He kept moving his hand and dropping books, small ones, fairly large ones, yellow, red, green ones. When he was done he looked down upon some twenty books lying at his wifes feet. † (Bradbury 63) Explanation: Montag had risked his job and really his whole life to steal these books! When he stole them he knew it was illegal and wrong to do as a fireman, but Montag knew there was something in books that might be worth it or at least worth the try. He felt he had nothing to loose. He just knew that books might somehow be able to help him. In the end he may have lost his wife and his house and his job, but they actually Mangano 4 saved his life as well. They saved him from the bomb in the city. 6. Quote: â€Å" ‘That woman, the other night, Millie, you werent there. You didnt see her face. And Clarisse. You never talked to her. I talked to her. And men like Beatty are afraid of her. I cant understand it. Why should they be so afraid of someone like her? But I kept putting her alongside the firemen in the House last night, and I suddenly realized I didnt like them at all, and I didnt like myself at all anymore. And I thought maybe it would be best if the firemen themselves were burnt. ’ † (Bradbury 64) Explanation: Montag realized that books must have some big importance if someone was willing to actually die for them. Montag also realized that he didnt want to be a destroyer of anything anymore, even if t meant giving up his job for something that might not really help him or be what he expected. There was no guarantee the books would help answer the questions Montag asked, but he stole the books anyway. Beatty was afraid of people who read because they had knowledge, their own opinion, and they could think for themselves. Knowledge is power, and the government wanted to be the only thing in that country with a uthority. 7. Quote: ‘Ive heard rumors; the world is starving, but were well fed. Is it true, the world works hard and we play? Is that why were hated so much? Ive heard the rumors about hate, too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I dont, thats sure! Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes! I dont hear those idiot bastards in your parlor talking about it. ’ (Bradbury 70) Explanation: Books give Montag one last hope to figure out whats wrong, to Mangano 5 make himself and his wife truly happy for once. Books are important because they force you to think about yourself and your life. Books force you to look around at the world and see the harsh reality. They give you a bit of a wake up call, sometimes. Thats what Montag was forced to do the night the lady was burnt with her books and the day in the park when he first met Faber. Montag wants more than anything to not have to trust someone, but to find out for himself and with books he is able to do that. 8. Quote: ‘So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from the chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality. Do you know the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler, whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth? ’ (Bradbury 79) Explanation: Books threaten everyone’s mask of happiness by putting a blinding spotlight on reality. Books can bring people to their senses and make them take a look in the mirror and see the true monster they have become. This is what Faber is trying to explain to Montag in this quote. . Quote: ‘What traitors books can be! You think theyre backing you up, and they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives. ’ (Bradbury 104) Explanation: Books are useful and important because they make you think for Mangano 6 yours elf, which is the one thing Montag really craves. You also have the freedom to disagree with a book and have your own opinion. Beatty is too close-minded and brainwashed to understand that books dont have to always be right or in agreement with another book. The rest of the country are either too afraid to get a book and read it or dont care enough to try. 10. Quote: ‘I want you to meet Jonathan Swift, the author of that evil political book, Gullivers Travels! And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and this one is Schopenhauer, and this one is Einstein, and this one here at my elbow is Mr. Albert Schweitzer, a very kind philosopher indeed. Here we all are, Montag. Aristophanes and Mahatma Gandhi and Gautama Buddha and Confucius and Thomas Love Peacock and Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln, if you please. We are also Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. ’ (Bradbury 144-5) Explanation: Montags wife, Mildred, earlier in the book had said, books werent people, but the quote above disproves that statement. Books can be people in a bunch of ways, whether its a biography, autobiography, or memorizing the book and becoming the ‘dust jacket’ like Granger said. The Book Thief: 1. Quote: â€Å"The book thief had struck for the first time the beginning of an illustrious career. † (Zusak 29) Explanation: This is the start of Liesels journey of learning and stealing as well. Shell learn how to read and use her words later on to become the word shaker. This Mangano 7 shows how sometimes books can be addicting. Once you start reading you get hooked and need more. Thats why steal in books became a career for her. It was because she couldnt just settle for one or two or even three books, she craved for more. 2. Quote: â€Å"They began to leave the scene of the crime, and the book was well and truly burning her now. The Shoulder Shrug had applied itself to her ribcage. † (Zusak 122) Explanation: The book was smoldering hot, but Liesel still took it from the dead fire. Liesel was willing to endure the pain of the book burning into her chest and the consequences she might get from her Papa or Mama if they found out she had taken it that night. She risked all this for a book because books gave her the ability to spend time with Papa and spend time in the basement both of which she loved. 3. Quote: â€Å"Where Hans Huberman and Eric Vanderburg were ultimately united by music, Max and Liesel were held together by the quiet gathering of words. † (Zusak 248) Explanation: Literature has the power to connect two people together. Music also can do this. Reading books bonded Liesel and Max jointly and started their friendship. Books not only connected Max and Liesel but also connected Liesel and the mayor’s wife. Later on reading books also gave Liesel a sense of purpose and usefulness. . Quote: â€Å"She didn’t dare to look up, but she could feel their frightened eyes hanging on to her as she hauled the words in and breathed them out. A voice played the notes inside her. This, it said, is your accordion. † (Zusak 381) Explanation: Although, Liesel was petrified she continued to read. It was a big step f or Liesel to continue, especially since the last time she tried to read in front of people she was too scared and not good enough. Reading during the raid also gave her a Mangano 8 sense of purpose and would afterward give her the opportunity to read for her neighbor, Frau Holtzapfel. Reading was Liesel’s accordion. It was her way of connecting to people around her and making them feel better, just like she did during the second and third air raid. She calmed everyone down by reading books to them and it got their mind off of where they were. 5. Quote: â€Å"And the girl goes on reading, for that’s why she’s there, and it feels good to be good for something in the aftermath of the snows of Stalingrad. † (Zusak 471) Explanation: Reading becomes a way for Liesel to help others. It gives Liesel a purpose and makes her feel accomplished, needed, and smart. Reading to her neighbor, Frau Holtzapfel, also got her family more of what it needed, especially since Liesel was paid in coffee and other items for reading to her. 6. Quote: â€Å"Liesel did not look back, but she knew that if she did, she’d have found her brother at the bottom of the steps again, his knee completely healed. † (Zusak 473) Explanation: She finally had healed the wounds she created inside herself when she burned with hatred and anger. She had forgiven herself for the things she had done and was ready to stop reliving her past and look toward the future instead. She had made things right with everyone. The books had helped her to this. 7. Quote: â€Å"She smiled and smiled, and when it all came out, she walked home and her brother never climbed into her sleep again. In many ways she would miss him, but she could never miss his deadly eyes on the floor of the train or the sound of a cough that killed. † (Zusak 473) Explanation: Both reading and time had healed her mentally and that’s what Mangano 9 stopped her nightmares from continuing. She also finally accepted the fact her brother died next to her while she was watching and that there was nothing she could’ve done to stop it. She was ready to move on from that time in her life, even though she knew she’d still always miss him. She just wouldn’t miss him haunting her at night anymore. 8. Quote: â€Å"She was still clutching the book. She was holding desperately on to the words who had saved her life. † (Zusak 499) Explanation: Writing and reading saved Liesel’s life both figuratively and literally. Just like her Papa, Hans Huberman, who was saved in his first war by having to read and write letters, reading and writing also saved Liesel. And just like what happened to Hans in that war, everyone around her died, but she was safe. 9. Quote: â€Å" ‘Max,’ she said. He turned and briefly closed his eyes as the girl continued. ‘There was once a strange, small man,’ she said. Her arms were loose but her hands were fists at her side. ‘But there was a word shaker, too. ’ † (Zusak 512) Explanation: When she read in the second and third air raid she was becoming the word shaker. Now seeing Max and where he was, she reminded him of that and of who he was. He wasn’t alone. His book had helped her realize that neither was she. 10. Quote: â€Å" ‘I thought if you’re not going to read any more of my books, you might like to write one instead. Your letter, it was†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ She handed the book to Liesel with both hands. You can certainly write. You write well. ’ † (Zusak 523) Explanation: This is a turning point in Liesel’s career. Liesel goes from being the reader of a book to the writer of one. Reading books, like Liesel had, helps you write better and it gives you a broader pers pective on things around you. Liesel was obviously Mangano 10 a pretty good writer, and it was evident because of the way the mayor’s wife spoke to Liesel about it. Mangano 11 â€Å"Work Cited† Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon amp; Schuster Paperbacks, 1951. Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.